Mortal Instruments Movie To Star Lily Collins, Harald Zwart To Direct

Fans of the Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instrument series may already know that Lily Collins is set to play the story’s lead character Clary Fray in the film adaptation. Word of that bit of casting goes back as far as 2010, but an announcement from Constantin Film and Unique Features released today confirms it, as well as the director of the movie.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is the first in a series of books. It follows a teenager named Clary Fray, who lives in New York City, and learns that she’s a descendant in a line of Shadowhunters, people who protect mankind against demons. According to Deadline, Collins is confirmed to play the lead role in the film, and Harald Zwart is set to direct. Zwart's last directing credit was the Karate Kid remake in 2010.

Last we heard, Jamie Campbell Bower was going to play the role of fellow Shadowhunter Jace in the film, however that was last year, and the recent announcement didn’t include any mention of that. Cassandra Clare commented on today's announcement on her blog (via About.com), and said that he's still attached to star, stating:

[Jamie’s not mentioned in the article, but he’s still attached to the project — it’s just an article about Lily and Harald, and now that all the i’s and t’s are crossed and dotted with Lily they’re probably doing the same with Jamie in terms of blocking his time. My speculation there, though.]

Principal photography is expected to begin in Toronto in August, so we’ll hopefully hear more news of casting in the coming months, including confirmation on who will play the roles of Jace, Simon, Isabelle and Alec.